The current political state of America is more divided than ever before seen. Political opinion used to be something that didn’t matter to many people, but now it is a belief system many judge others on. Even our government officials contribute to the divide by belittling and insulting other politicians and belief systems across the political aisle. Political opinion, while not illegal, still impacts the way many Americans live in the modern era. Many are calling this new phenomena “The Great Divide” because of the partisan polarization we see in this country. This new change in American politics isn’t a sudden one; in reality, it is actually a gradual change brought up by years of media scrutiny of politicians, and the politicians themselves.
The media has a lot to do with politics. The news, which was once a nonpartisan form of media designed to spread the truth, now only tells you what certain parties or agendas want you to know and how those parties want you to feel. The internet is also a major part of this new form of political brainwashing and echochambers. Internet personalities and political pundits like Jon Stewart, Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson, and others have massive followings and help spread the agenda of their respective political ideology. The news before would tell you what was happening without bias and catch you up on current events without you having to do extra research on the subject to find the true events in the story. The modern news and media spearheaded by Fox News and CNN is designed to be partisan, but spins political agendas as truth. This is a massive problem because it keeps Americans in echo chambers and forces strong feelings about subjects or people. The increase of political violence is the greatest effect of this.
The most well-known political assassination of this modern era is the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the well known right-wing podcaster and activist. His killing was no doubt due to the media, the same type of partisan media he indulged in. His death is just one of many because just months before a man (allegedly Vance Luther Boelter) assassinated Melissa Hortman, the head of the Democratic caucus in Minnesota, and her husband Mark; shot and injured Minnesota state senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette; and had plans to shoot several different powerful Democratic leaders in Minnesota. The many assassination attempts on Donald Trump is also evidence of this political divide. While almost every president has had attempts made on his life, like John F. Kennedy or Ronald Reagan, Trump has had some of the most publicly-known assassination attempts, including the attempt made on his life in 2024 at a rally. However, Trump isn’t even the president with the most assassination attempts or plots; many believe that Barack Obama had up to 11 assassination plots or attempts made.
Part of the problem also lands on the shoulders of the politicians themselves. If you compare presidential debates from the 20th century to today, there is a clear difference. Many politicians spoke politely to their opponents and often acknowledged the good each other promised to bring, but now that is looking like a dead strategy. President Trump is often criticized for his demeaning style of debate often including insults and nicknames, but he is not the first. Many politicians before him insulted their opponents, he just did it to a pettier and more famous degree. Trump isn’t the only one using insults to divide Americans though; many politicians after him have adopted this style. Politicians from both sides of the aisle are now beginning to insult and demean one another, and that only makes the partisan divide worse. Partisan news was also founded by a more recent president: Ronald Reagan. Before he passed a law allowing news to work as propaganda for a political party in the U.S., the news worked as intended, spreading the whole truth and focusing on facts rather than feelings. Reagan paid for this mistake when he was nearly assassinated in 1981, two months after gaining the presidency.
American politics has always been deeply personal and based on personal beliefs, but it is clear now more than ever in modern history that politics is only serving to divide the country. How can we pride ourselves as a united and free nation, the promised land, when the people of our own country spend precious time and waste their lives hating on other people because of which politician they voted for most recently and what party they associate with? Politicians and American media have divided this country into hating each other over stupid things that don’t really affect how we live our lives, and every last one of us fell for it.
I do believe there is a fix for this problem, and it has been shown to work as of recently. We need to end the age of populist politicians, those who stoke hate for the other party and spread deeply ideological agendas, and begin a new era where politicians focus more on policies that their communities care about, and less on what the other party is doing. Politics doesn’t have to be a super hard conversation to have, but in this new era of politics that is exactly what it has become. I believe that if politicians spend more time listening to what Americans want, and if biased news outlets spent more time talking about the positives that their party is doing rather than the bad the other party is doing, then not only will this country heal, but the policies we see could get more coverage and change how people look at politics. Politics is not a team sport, everyone gets to vote for the people who you think will lead the country towards greatness.
